Survive and thrive: 15 tips on building your business with design in mind
If you’re starting a new business you might wonder if you need a design support. Here are 15 tips so you can decide if it’s right for you now, or later. This post was originally written for #Microbiz Day.
We can’t do everything. Allow some flexibility in the budgets to outsource what we can’t do, which gives us time to concentrate on what we are great at. Design can be outsourced very easily and effectively, handing over all of the creative needs or in stages as your business grows.
Learn from others. Networking and online courses can teach us so much but it can be tempting to learn everything! You can learn from your designer as you need to and documents like branding guidelines or training sessions can support you along the way.
Avoid pitching sites. Nobody can ethically walk into a counselling practice, spent time with several counsellors and only pays the one whose advice they liked the most. This scenario can be applied to any professional practice yet there are design sites that do this. It's very unlikely you'll find bespoke design and all contact has to be through the platform so if the designer decides to move on, you may get stuck. Working directly with me means I’m investing my time in your story, with you.
Money spent on a great design is worth a thousand hours wasted on poor concepts for a low rate.
Do something each day that’s not the day job. I walk my dog or go to art classes. It gives me a proper ‘brain break’ and means I’m away from my emails. It can help if you’re struggling with ideas.
Designers, copywriters, photographer, editors and proofreaders are also buyers.
Beware of visual litter. Too many fonts, or images that point out the obvious or aren’t accessible. Edit and edit again.
You can ask for a design Q&A if the budget doesn't extend to a full design service.
Just like humans, design needs space to breath.
Apps do not make designers, just as Word doesn't make editors. Canva can be overwhelming and it can be hard to create original content that’s not reliant on a template; I can help you with that.
You don’t need a full branding service in the first few months. Whilst a logo can be useful in establishing an identity, a brand can wait if funds are tight. Delivered well, a good brand structure can give support to staff on many areas including tone of voice, logo and how a business appears in social media so it’s one not to neglect further down the line.
A logo should be created to work in colour, mono, portrait and landscape and in print, digital and web. Anything that isn’t, query with the creator.
Use both sides of a business card. It’s an incredibly low cost and effective way to share more details and get creative with that little bit of card. Exploit digital printing technology and print multiple designs on one side, maybe include some top tips.
Print isn’t dead. Not paying attention to the environment however is very dead, so use print well and pay attention to digital carbon too. Design can reduce errors and help create work that is future proof.
Designers make a difference to print and web design. We know the difference between the file types and we can check for errors that will stop products being delivered on time.